What are Add-on Domains

Add-on domain is just like another domain. It is simply another domain that is added onto the same server (or the same hosting package) as your main domain, and it behaves as a completely separate entity.

For example, say you have a domain name called webhosting1.com that comes with your hosting package that you purchased from some web hosting company, like Host Gator . Now let’s say you would like to build a second website called webhosting2.com. Instead of purchasing and paying for an entire new hosting package, all you have to do is buy the second domain name, webhosting2.com, and add it as an add-on domain on your Host Gator hosting plan.

Before I discuss how to go about this, there are a few things to keep in mind here. Keeping Host Gator as the example, if you look at their cheapest hosting plan, called the Hatchling Plan, you might notice that this plan allows for only 1 Domain. Now, you are getting a good price for this plan, and if you are not a web developer or you know that you’ll not be needing, or wanting any more sites in the future, this would be the plan for you. However, if you are someone who sees him/her-self as a person looking to expand their horizons, perhaps start up several blog sites, or maybe offer to build sites for your clientele and throw in hosting for a reasonable price, you would definitely want a plan that offers more than one domain name with your hosting package. In case of HostGator , this would be at minimum the Baby Plan. Other companies offer similar plans or packages so just look at each company’s plan and compare them with one another, and don’t be tricked by cheap prices, because you do get what you pay for, and one hosting company’s plan might seem cheap because it really is.

Host Papa dealt away with different packages and they simply have one package that includes one free domain for the life of the account, with unlimited add-on domains, meaning all you need to do is purchase any number of domain names and host them on this single account … which is a great thing.

So lets say you have a hosting package with unlimited domains with a hosting company, like HostGator. Your main site, webhosting1.com, is up and running, and you would like to host another web site on the same plan. All you need to do is register your second domain name, webhosting2.com, with any domain name registrar and point it to your HostGator account.

This is important … you don’t need to register your second domain with the same company that your hosting package is with. In fact, HostGator or HostPapa, although both excellent and recommended companies for hosting, are not very cheap for domain name registration alone. Host Gator charges $15.00 US/year per domain name, while HostPapa charges $24.95 Canadian per domain name, last time I checked. Suffice to say, go someplace else, like Netfirms or GoDaddy to register your new domain names, where you can get them for half the price. Once you have your new domain name registered, all you need to do is change the DNS (domain name servers) to point to your HostGator or HostPapa server and voila.

As an example if you have registered your domain name with Netfirms, but your hosting is with HostPapa you’ll have to change something like this:

(there are always a minimum of two domain name servers you’ll have to change)

Once this is done, both HostGator and HostPapa offer cPanel for the administrative back-end and configuring add-on domains is a breeze. As a note, it sometimes can take up to 48 hours for the DNS changes to take effect.

As each registrar has their own admin panel, I’m not going to explain how and where to specifically change your DNS name servers to point to your hosting account. If you Google around your should find the answers yourself, and most hosting companies do have a “How to” sections just for this purpose. However, if you are stuck and have no place to turn, give me a shout out and I’d be happy to assist in any way possible.

Hopefully this article was a bit helpful. I know I was a bit confused with all this when I got started. Good luck with your endeavors!!!

I’m thinking of starting a online information business. ..
I want to register. The name in .ca & .com what site would be the best. .. I also concern hosting inthere ffuture hope I will be able my own server. ..

I would either go with host gator or host papa. I used both and they are good. host papa is all shared server environment, and have really good pricing for what you get, while host gator offesr more in terms of possible future upgrades, like a private server if you need one, but they are a bit more expensive …last time i checked.